Preview: Reel Islington Film Festival 2013

Last year, Reel Islington Film Festival, which was headlined by Ken Loach and Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, was a big success. Now the independent film festival is back for a second run at selected venues across north London at the end of this week, themed around ‘A Place Called England’.

The programme is a varied one, spread over three days, and including everything from Aardman Animation’s family favourite Chicken Run to Joe Cornish’s tale of alien invasion set in a tower block in Oval, Attack The Block. Among these more well-known features, the festival will also be screening several smaller cult films and documentaries. Principal among these is Patrick Keiller’s 1994 documentary London, filmed over a year in the capital, and which will also be accompanied by a performance from electro-beat poets Project Adorno. That is, of course, not the only London-based film on offer, with Julien Temple’s recent masterpiece London – The Modern Babylon also screening, and BAFTA-winning Sapphire, a documentary from 1959 that examines racial tension in London following the murder of a female student just one year after the Notting Hill riots.

As with last year, the festival will also be screening the best films submitted to their Short Film Award, which will be judged by journalist Tim Robey, filmmaker and advisor to Film4, Adam Roberts, and producer Ben Woolford. Reel Islington Film Festival will also be supporting new talent with its selection of panel events. These include a ‘Meet the Professionals’ event led by writer/director David Wilson, and ‘Is This England? Visions Of A Country In Cinema,’ chaired by Arts Journalism Leader at London Metropolitan University, Jude Rogers. Rounding out an impressively varied programme will be a tribute to composer John Dankworth from 18-piece jazz band, MOJO Orchestra.

The Reel Islington Film Festival runs from 22-24 February, spread across a variety of London venues. All tickets cost £5 or less, and can be purchased from the official website.